The Walt Disney World Resort's animal care team welcomed a six-foot-tall, 110-pound bundle of joy on Oct. 7, 2006 at Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Aibuni, a nine-year old giraffe, gave birth to a healthy baby girl. The calf was Aibuni's first. Both the calf, who is named Imara (which means "strong" in Swahili), and Aibuni are doing great and are expected to rejoin their herd on Disney's Animal Kingdom savannah in the next few weeks. Aibuni became pregnant through natural breeding in the summer of 2005. A normal gestational period for giraffes is 15 months. Giraffe’s at the Walt Disney World Resort are bred through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), Population Management Plan which is a consortium of zoos and wildlife parks working together to conserve and breed animals.
